Reversing flume mechanism for clothes wringers



Dec. 11, 195] GABRlELSON 2,578,417

REVERSING FLUME MECHANISM FOR CLOTHES WRINGERS Filed Sept. 8; 1949 Inventor: Samuel I.Gabr-ielson l-lis Attorne g.

{ Patented Dec. 11,1951

REVERSING FLUME MECHANISM FOR CLOTHES WRINGERS .SainuelI. Gabrielson, Southport, Conn., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application September 8, 1949, Serial No. 114,515

6 Claims. '1

This invention relates to clothes wringers, and particularly to an improved fiume or drip board which will .automatically adjust itself to the rotational direction of the pressure rollers.

Conventional power driven wringers are reversible, .and clothes may be introduced from either side. Accordingly, the fiume or drip board which .is provided to catch and return the extracted water to the tub from which the clothes were taken must .be arranged so that its slope may be adjusted to the direction of roll rotation.

The objects of .my invention are generally to provide an improved water .flume which automatically reverses its slope as the roll rotation reverses; to, provide a mechanically simple and inexpensive device which combines the functions of supporting and reversing a clothes wringer flume; and to provide a fiume reversing mechanism which, although directly engaged by a roll of the wringer for operation thereby, nevertheless does not subject said roller to appreciable frictional wear.

It is almost universally the practice to provide wringers with a water collection trough, usually comprising an element of the wringer frame. Said trough extends about the lower half of the lowermost wringer roll, and is of coextensive length; the trough has a centrally disposed discharge opening through which the water empties into the flume or drip board. The fiume need therefore be only slightly Wider than the length of the discharge opening. .I utilize the water trough as a fiume supporting means, and suspend the .flume therefrom by a flexible device which permits the flume to be moved bodily transversely of the water trough until according to dimensional preference, either the shifting center of gravity of the flume relative to the support will cause the flume to tilt in the desired direction or thedimensional relationship between the flume and its support will cause the flume to tilt .in the desired direction and to the extent necessary for water flow. Preferably, said supporting means comprise a stifliy flexible strap amxed to the flume at its discharge ends and passing through or over suitable .fixed support means, such as the side walls of the trough, and about the bottom portion of the lowermost roller in surface contact therewith. By suitably positioning the points of support of the strap, the curvature thereof as it passes about the roll will be such as to engage a substantial portion of the roll surface; and as the roller rotates its frictional engagement with the strap will propel the strap transversely of the roller axis and thus effect the displacement and tilting of the flume. Suitable means are provided to limit further movement of the strap after the desired fiume position has been reached.

In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a conventional clothes wringer to which my improved flume construction has been applied; Fig. '2 is a side elevation thereof taken in section on lines 2-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a'frag- 'mentary front elevation of a modified supporting structure; and Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional side elevation of a flume having a modified stop means.

A clothes wringer l includes a frame having atop bar 2, side supports 3, 4 and a bottom frame member 5. Upper and lower pressure rollers '6, l are suitably journaled in the side supports and 'are arranged to be mechanically rotated in a forward or reverse direction by any conventional means. Fixed to the side frame members and extending longitudinally :of the rollers are the usual aprons 8, 9 which guide the clothes into and out et the rollers during the wringing operation. I

"The bottom frame member '5 may advantageously comprise a rigid, semi-cylindrical structure disposed about the lower roll 1 in suitably spaced relationship therewith. Said frame mem- "ber affords a water collector which receives the water extracted from the clothes as they pass through the wringer; and accordingly, the side Walls of the member extend upwardly relative to the roll to a level substantially at the axis of the 'roll so as to trap as much of the drainage from the rolls as is practicable. The trough-like frame member may have one or more drainage openings '10, usually concentrated centrally of the wringer.

It is conventional to provide a tiltable drip board or fiume beneath the water collector to receive the drainage therefrom and direct the water back into the tub from which the clothes were taken. The purpose of til'tably mounting such a fiume is to accommodate its water discharge to the direction from which the clothes are fed to the 'wringer, for it is obvious that it would be undesirable to convey soapy Water extracted from the clothes into the tub containing rinse water. The present invention provides a fiume l l which is suspended from the central portion of the frame member 5 in such fashion as to permit the flume to move bodily transversely 'of said member but not longitudinally thereof; and it is a feature of my invention that the frame suspension means provides, also, the means which automatically effects the proper directional tilt of the flume. As a presently preferred device, I affix to the fiume ll intermediate the side walls l2 thereof a suitable, stifily flexible, strap M, of stainless steel, for example, supported by wall means on each side of the lower roll and carried about the lower portion thereof for continuous frictional engagement therewith. The strap may be carried on supplemental support means such as the supports l5 secured to the respective sides of the frame member 5 (see Fig. 3), although it is obviously preferable, when the side walls of the frame member are sufficiently high to insure that a relatively large portion of the roll circumference will be engaged by the strap, to pierce said walls with mutually aligned, elongate slots it through which the strap is threaded. A good frictional engagement with the roll surface is insured by the weight of the fiume, and smooth operation of the fiume-tilting function derives from the lifting of one end of the flume as the strap length between the support means and the adjacent end of the flume shortens, and, in somewhat lesser measure, by making the flume sufiiciently long to cause its center of gravity to progress well beyond the nearest point of strap support.

In Fig. 2 it is assumed that'the lower roll is rotating clockwise so that clothesfed into the Wringer from the apron 8 will pass through the rolls to be discharged along the apron 9. Because of the clockwise rotation of roll 1 and its engagement with the strap 14 the strap and its thereto afiixed flume will be moved to the left .of Fig. 2 until further movement is interrupted by the engagement of a button I? or the like with the side wall of the frame member 5. The spacing of the side walls of said frame member and the stiffness of 'the strap cause the strap to pass over its supports in wide-radius curves, thus insuring free movement. The overbalanced center of gravity of the fiume H will cause it to tilt toward the tub from which the clothes were taken, and the water extracted from the clothes and drainging through the opening [0 will be returned to said tub. When the rollers are reversed, the strap M will be carried to the right of Fig. 2, moving the'flume I l until the appropriate stop device strikes the wall of the frame member, at which point the flume will be tilted in the reverse direction.

If desired, the stop means for the strap may be made integral with the strap by forming a crimp l8 at the appropriate positions near the ends of the strap [4, as shown in Fig. 4. It will be seen that whereas the button or the like I! is suitable for strap materials that will not take a permanent set, the method illustrated in Fig. 4 is advantageous for metal straps or the like. It is my present opinion that metal is in many ways the superior material for the fiume straps- The extremities may be folded over the ends of the flume and secured bycrimping a narrow tongue IQ of the flume base thereover, as shown in Fig. 2; and the low friction contact of the strap with its respective support walls insures strap movement without requiring a harsh frictional contact with the roll even though the latter is lubricated by a film of water extracted from the clothes.

While I have shown particular embodiments of my invention, it will be understood, of course, that I do not wish to be limited thereto since many modifications may be made; and I therefore contemplate by the appended claims to cover any such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a clothes wringer, a wringer frame, a pressure roll journaled therein, a water collector secured by said frame about and beneath said roll in spaced relation therewith to receive water extracted from the clothes by operation of the pressure roll, said water collector having a water outlet, a flume disposed beneath said outlet to receive water draining therefrom, and flexible support means for suspending said fiume from said water collector to permit bodily movement of said flume transversely of said frame while restraining longitudinal movement, said support means being in continuous engagement with said pressure roll to be moved by rotation thereof, and the suspension being such that the change of the center of gravity of the flume relative to the point of suspension causes the flume to tilt in the direction of its movement during such movement.

2. In a clothes wringer, a frame a pressure roll journaled therein, a water collector secured by said frame to receive drippings therefrom, said collector having a drain hole, a flume disposed in spaced relationship beneath said collector to receive the drainage therefrom, and means for shifting said flume transversely of the pressure roll according to the direction of rotation of said roll, comprising wall means fixedly disposed on opposite sides of said roll substantially at the level of the axis thereof, and a thin, stiflly flexible strap attached at its ends to said flume at relatively widely spaced locations along the line of water flow therein and passing over said wall means and under said roll in frictional engagement with the latter, said strap attachment points and the elevation of the support points of the strap relative thereto being so related to the length of the fiume, considered transversely of the roll, that the shortening strap length between the supporting wall means and the strap attachment will lift one end of'the fiume as the same progresses transversely of the roll by reason of the propulsion of the strap by the roll, thereby to cause said flume to incline away from said roll and collector.

3. The combination according to claim 2, in which the strap is provided with projections adjacent its ends for engagement with the wall means to limit further movement of the strap relative to the roll.

4. The combination according to claim 2, in which the strap is of material capable of taking a permanent set and has crimped portions adjacent its ends providing stop means engageable with the strap supporting Wall means to limit further movement of said strap relative to the roll.

5. In a clothes wringer, a frame, a pressure roll journaled therein, a water collector secured by said frame beneath said roll to receive water extracted from the clothes, said water collector having an outlet, a fiume for receivin water discharging from said outlet and conveying it away from said wringer, and means for suspending said fiume relative to said water collector, comprising wall means on said collector extending upwardly on diametrically opposite sides of said roll, said wall means having aligned openings disposed substantially above the bottom of the roll, and a thin, stiffly flexible, member secured to said flume at the discharge ends thereof and threaded through said wall means openings to pass transversely about the lower portion of said roll in contact therewith, whereby the frictional engagement of the rotating roll with said member will effect translation of said member and the thereto aflixed fiume.

6- In a clothes wringer, a frame, a pressure roll journaled therein, a water collector secured to said frame and extending longitudinally beneath said roll to receive drippings therefrom, said collector having a water outlet, a fiume for receiving Water discharging from said outlet and conveying it away from said wringer, and means for suspending said flume relative to said water collector, comprising wall means extending upwardly on diametrically opposite sides of said roll, said wall means havin aligned openings disposed substantially above the bottom edge of the roll, and a thin, stifiiy flexible strap member secured to said flume at the discharge ends thereof and threaded through said openings to pass transversely about the lower portion of said roll in contact therewith, the weight of the flume and the disposition of the openings serving to bias the strap member to maintain close contact with said roll, and the spacing of said wall means and the location of the openings thereof relative to the roll being such that the strap member assumes a large radius curve at each wall means opening.

' SAMUEL I. GABRIELSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,895,403 Swanson Jan. 24, 1933 2,080,048 Kaufiman May 11, 1937 2,234,258 Kaufiman Mar. 11,1941 

